Justin Bieber took notice of the growing cracks in One Direction's ever-crumbling facade and staged his comeback at just the right time. Then he added insult to injury (One Direction is breaking up, Justin, can you let them have this?) by releasing a pretty solid pop song as the first lead single off his forthcoming album. People clearly responded well, because "What Do You Mean?" just beat One Direction's Spotify-streaming record.

According to Billboard, relentless Beliebers streamed Justin’s new single “What Do You Mean?” over 21 million times in five days, beating the record previously held by One Direction’s “Drag Me Down,” which hit 20 million streams during its debut week.

Justin’s recent performance at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards -- in which he ascended above the crowd and then wept vigorously after -- undoubtedly helped bolster those streams.

The "Baby" singer appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night (September 2) where he admitted that his tears were the result of both disappointment in his performance and surprise at the audience's overwhelmingly positive response. Recalling back to his last awards show performance, he said, "I just wasn’t expecting them to support me in the way they did. Last time I was at an awards show, I was booed."

How do you feel about Justin Bieber beating One Direction's record? Did you contribute to Justin's 21 million streams? Did you also forget to turn "private session" on while repeatedly listening to "What Do You Mean?" on Spotify like I did? Let us know!

See What Celebs Looked Like When They Released Their First Albums

More From PopCrush